1910–1911
Britannica 11th
Encyclopaedia Britannica · 11th edition
SYNCELLUS, a hybrid word (Gr. ain>, Lat. cello),* meaning literally " one who shares his cell with another." In ecclesiastical usage it refers to the very early custom of a priest or deacon living continually with a bishop, propter testimonium ecclesiasticum; thus Leo III. speaks of Augustine as having been the syncellus of Gregory the Great. The term came into use in the Eastern Church, where the syncelli were the chaplains of metropolitans and patriarchs. At Constantinople they formed a corporation, and the proto…
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- Vol. 26, pp. 292-292